13 November 2009

The Ethics of Conducting Research on the Internet

For those researching questions using the internet ethical considerations should be at the forefront of their practice. Issues such as participant protection, confidentiality, verifying identity, informed consent, withdrawal, debriefing and deception are important considerations when working remotely from the participants of investigations and experiments.

In 2007 the British Psychological Society's 'Working Party on Conducting Research on the Internet' issued a set of guidelines for ethical practice in psychological research online. This document, although dated due to advances in information technology since its issue, provides a good starting point for everyone conducting research online. There is no mention of virtual worlds as such but the principles laid down here along with the BPS existing ethical guidelines for research are sound.

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Ethical practice in researching online? Give me a second o think...The web now is open source of information, if the information is marked with copyright sign I can use it with a link to the author, I guess.

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This is the personal blog of Milton Broome, the digital avatar of University of Derby Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Simon Bignell. The avatar is a proxy for Psychology teaching and research in 3D multi-user virtual environments. I am a Developmental Psychologist by training with a strong interest in Cyberpsychology and Cognitive Psychology.

I teach a range of Psychology modules both to campus-based and distance learners. I lead the final-year course 'Autism, Asperger's and ADHD'; the final year course 'Educational Psychology', and teach on a range of modules across Developmental and Cognitive Psychology.

I led the JISC and HEA-funded projectthat evaluated teaching and research in the 3D virtual world Second Life. I would be pleased to talk with you if you share these interests. Please feel free to comment, subscribe, forward or quote extracts from this blog. I also welcome relevant guest articles.

Contact: Dr Simon Bignell (SL Avatar: Milton Broome) Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Centre for Psychological Research, University of Derby, UK. Email: s.bignell@derby.ac.ukThis is a personal blog and all views expressed here are the opinions of the individual authors at the time of publication and not those of any academic institution.

Virtual Research

SL-Labs is the Virtual Psychology research space in the digital environment 'Second Life' run by the Psychology Department at University of Derby, UK. You can visit this in the virtual world Second Life by clicking on the above image.

PREVIEW-Psych project

The PREVIEW-Psych problem-based learning virtual worlds project. You can visit this in the virtual world Second Life by clicking on the above image.